Fall Out Boy Frontman Discusses Trip to Uganda, Blood and Michael Jackson

(andPOP) - Elvis Costello is sitting across the aisle from him. Chuck D is sitting right in front of him. Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys are singing on stage about 20 feet away.

It's February of 2006, and Patrick Stump is sitting amongst the best artists in the world at the Grammy Awards, where his band Fall Out Boy is nominated for Best New Artist.

Then a piercing realization enters his head.

"What am I doing [here]? I'm a drummer who has been faking as a singer."

Stump had never seen himself as a singer. But when Fall Out Boy began reaching certain plateaus – their breakout 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree has gone three times platinum, they've won two MTV VMAs – Stump realized it was time to get serious.

"I saw myself as a singer de facto," he told andPOP before Fall Out Boy – Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley – took the stage in Milwaukee last week. "Now I really focus on it and I spend a lot of time practicing and working at it."

The work, apparently, paid off. Fall Out Boy's latest, Infinity on High, debuted at No. 1 when it was released in February. AbsolutePunk.net, the bible of punk music on the web, affirms, "Patrick Stump shines on each song, as his vocals have never sounded better."

Fall Out Boy will be in Toronto on Saturday for a tour stop at the Molson Amphitheatre, a few weeks ahead of their trip to Northern Uganda with Invisible Children to raise awareness for the refugee crisis in the area.

In an insightful interview with andPOP, Stump talked about the band's upcoming trip, his role as a frontman and more.

andPOP: So you're right in the thick of the tour now.

Patrick: It calms down. It comes in waves as the tour goes on. The first week everyone's just freaking out, making sure everything works, and then by the middle of the second week, everyone starts to calm down a little bit.

andPOP: The trip to Uganda is approaching. How are you feeling about that right now, still a few weeks away?

Patrick: I'm excited. I realize we've gotten to see a lot of the world but we've never been to the entire continent of Africa and there's so many different things between cultures and languages, and with every culture and language, there's a whole different set of problems, be them social, economic or even weather. So it's really weird, kind of crazy thinking about that. The first time you see it, it will probably be totally alien to you. I'm nervous and excited about it but we're also there for a reason.

andPOP: Does it put what you're doing in perspective in a way, where you get to rock out every night on tour but now you get to see the positive effects of your celebrity?

Patrick: Ya, well no, I don't really overestimate our reach. It's more of a case of a best-case scenario thing. Hopefully we get people involved but I don't necessarily assume that that's going to happen. At the end of the day, you're an entertainer. That's the path you've chosen. Some entertainers command a certain amount of respect and I don't want to jump to the assumption that we also command that respect. Obviously on this tour our audience is happy to see us and we're happy to see them but at the same time, I just think in context sometimes. You have to be really careful how serious you get with whatever because at the end of the day, you are just an entertainer. My favourite show is The Office and it's hilarious and we're watching both Offices, the U.S. and UK one, and I think it would be a lot of less funny if in the middle of it, Ricky Gervais deadpanned the camera and started talking about the environment. As a musician, I have to be careful about it but if we inspire anybody I'm happy because it's obviously important enough that we're trying to do something about it.

andPOP: I know what you mean, but you don't even have to open your mouth. As long as you go, you're creating awareness. I'm going to mention it in my article and other people will mention it and each mention is one that wouldn't have been discussed had you not planned to go.

Patrick: And that's really what I'm hoping. I don't know that directly we'll do anything, but I'm hoping it's a lot of indirect inspiration and hopefully a lot of people take note.

andPOP: You've also been signing posters in your blood. Where did that idea come from?

Patrick: The idea itself, the physical idea came from Kiss. They did that with their comic book in the late '80s or early '90s. It was that and I was talking to my aunt who actually lived in Africa for 20 years and she and I were talking about charities and it was right after the tsunami happened and she was saying that one of the things that's frustrating as an aid worker, because that's what she did, is that charities have a really big boom immediately after an event happens but down the line, three years later, there are still people in need of a lot of help. There are still people suffering from Katrina in the United States and we're supposed to have out stuff together. So she said its frustrating that blood drives happen immediately after the fact but down the line when people really need blood, there's none. So I wanted to throw that into the public consciousness too. At the same time, there's probably some creepy little fan that really wants my blood.

andPOP: With all the success you've garnered in the past few years, were you at all nervous about how well Infinity on High would do?

Patrick: Its' a really weird time to be making music right now. The industry is in a total gray area. What I said to everybody was I don't care if it sells because right now, I don't know what that means. The No.1 record in America right now is maybe selling a fraction of what the No. 1 record was selling in 1988, so there's no way in knowing what that means anymore and quite frankly I don't really mind. Its not like I was in it for the money or anything. I told everybody that I just wanted to see it tour because that's when I know whether or not it worked, when I hear people sing it back, and that's more fun to me anyway. That's what I've been waiting on and I'm so happy to be out on it finally.

andPOP: The pop-punk label gets thrown around a lot. Is it something Fall Out Boy embraces or something you'd rather distance yourself from?

Patrick: We're a pop punk band and [it's fine] if people choose to call us that, if that's the quickest way to determine who we are or whatever. Because of that, we're a punk band but we have a lot of pop influences. I wanted to combine that in as many different ways as I could. There's a lot of fertile ground in music I think. I looked at bands like Talking Heads or Blondie or The Ramones. You look at that era of punk rock and they were all making pop punk. Blondie was playing disco and that was the most punk rock thing they could have done back then so those were my heroes on this record. I was really obsessed with Michael Jackson.

andPOP: And you've been playing Beat It on tour.

Patrick: That's honestly like my favourite part of the tour. We were playing the riff in sound check and there's just something so awesome about it.

andPOP: In a Rolling Stone article from last year, you expressed how you were uncomfortable being the band's frontman. As time goes on, are you getting more comfortable?

Patrick: To come and see us at a show, you'll really get me a frontman, which is what I am. We played Chain Reaction in Anaheim at a secret show right before we started this tour. I think that's where I am most natural, and I was really nervous but when we get on stage and there's all this pyrotechnics, you sort of find yourself in a character. When there's fire going off behind you, some ancient rock God awakens within you. So it's weird, I can get more comfortable when there are props and things but in general, the second I have to talk on stage, the second I make mistake on stage that's when you'll see me [uncomfortable].

andPOP: Last question, and take this however you want. If members of the band want to bring their girlfriends on tour, is that ok with the rest of the band.

Patrick: Absolutely, for sure!